BNB Chain has launched a $100 million incentive program aimed at boosting liquidity for its native projects on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges. The initiative represents a significant expansion of the blockchain network's efforts to strengthen its ecosystem.
The program will distribute $100 million primarily in BNB tokens to qualifying projects that successfully list on any of 11 major centralized exchanges specified by the network, according to the March 24 announcement. BNB Chain stated the initiative would "further enhance BNB Chain's ecosystem liquidity and foster project growth by incentivizing exchanges to list native BNB Chain tokens."
This latest effort follows two smaller liquidity incentive programs initiated earlier this year. BNB Chain previously allocated two tranches of $4.4 million in February and March specifically targeting exchange listings for memecoins and other ecosystem projects.
The new program will operate on a first-come, first-served basis and run for an initial three-month trial period. Projects must meet specific eligibility requirements, including a minimum market capitalization of $5 million and at least $1 million in daily trading volume.
Reward amounts vary based on the prominence of the exchange where projects secure listings. The most substantial rewards—$500,000 in permanent liquidity—are reserved for projects that list on major exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase.
According to BNB Chain, some rewards will be limited to non-withdrawable BNB token liquidity. In other cases, rewards will include purchases of project tokens to create two-sided liquidity pools.
BNB Chain currently ranks fourth among blockchain networks in total value locked (TVL), with approximately $5.4 billion according to data from DeFiLlama.
This places it behind leading smart contract platforms Ethereum and Solana, which have TVLs of around $46 billion and $7 billion respectively.
The blockchain network maintains an affiliation with Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. In March, The Wall Street Journal reported that entities connected to U.S. President Donald Trump were in discussions to potentially acquire Binance.US, an independently-operated U.S. cryptocurrency exchange.
Former Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao has disputed many of the report's claims. He specifically denied any suggestion that a potential deal was contingent on Trump pardoning Zhao following his conviction on charges of violating the Bank Secrecy Act.
In 2023, Binance agreed to pay a $4.3 billion penalty, and Zhao pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Bank Secrecy Act due to deficiencies in Binance's Anti-Money Laundering program.